John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was very impressed with the BAM personnel we met, not just from a professional perspective but that many of them have bought in to the project emotionally. That is important to state. I know the new national maternity hospital is probably not going to be as bespoke, but what would Mr. Tierney say if he met the board and was asked for advice on his experience of dealing with pretty significant projects? The reason I ask is that I was a public representative, a councillor, in the years after 1999 when motorway projects began. Companies drove a coach and four through local authorities and the State and there were incredible cost overruns. These companies were experts at making claims. The Government got caught out until 2002 or 2003 when it brought in fixed terms and penalties if projects were not delivered on time.

What we had then was a plethora of contracts that were delivered ahead of time and below the original contracted price. What has been learned from this? I get the bespoke nature of it. We cannot underestimate Covid and the materials cost inflation - maybe someone will be able to account for that - but it appears from the headlines that the cost will exceed expectations. If I understood the CEO correctly, the excess cost right now is €9 million in claims. That is a big sum but it seems that a tight game is being played in the overall cost of it if some of that has been due to court decisions and if those decisions land your way, as was said. The figure we are dealing with is between €9 million and €500 million, which is a big gulf.